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Friday, February 29, 2008
My hair
I've been playing/experimenting with my hair since December, when I chopped it from below my waist to above my shoulders. I finally found the cut that I absolutely love!!! Here's a couple of pictures!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Well, now we know!
This weekend we figured out why my milk supply dropped so dramatically.
I'm Pregnant!!!!
We are totally in shock, and very excited. It is definatley a lot earlier than we had planned, but obviously, Someone Else had better plans! I found out by a home pregnancy test while in California this past weekend. I then called first thing Monday morning to make an appointment with Sharon Ryuak, my Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). I had that appointment today (Wednesday).
Zarik was supposed to go with us to help with Mika, but SkyWest had different plans and called him into work, pthhhh! Mika and I got there, and I filled out all the new paperwork, than we went into the back. All the nurses and techs when goo-goo over Mika, and they were more than happy to play with her while I had the appointment. Sharon was shocked but thrilled to see us! She decided since the dates I gave her had me at 7 weeks, she would do a quick ultrasound to verify that. All she saw was a little sac, so she took me to the actual sonographer (ultrasound lady) who took me to a better machine (I'm gonna get 3D ultrasounds later on!!!) and did another ultrasound. That put me at 4weeks, 4days. Basically, since I'm still breastfeeding, and only 6 months postpartum, they think my cycles were still messed up. So my due date is November 1st!!!
Lots of fun!!
I'm Pregnant!!!!
We are totally in shock, and very excited. It is definatley a lot earlier than we had planned, but obviously, Someone Else had better plans! I found out by a home pregnancy test while in California this past weekend. I then called first thing Monday morning to make an appointment with Sharon Ryuak, my Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM). I had that appointment today (Wednesday).
Zarik was supposed to go with us to help with Mika, but SkyWest had different plans and called him into work, pthhhh! Mika and I got there, and I filled out all the new paperwork, than we went into the back. All the nurses and techs when goo-goo over Mika, and they were more than happy to play with her while I had the appointment. Sharon was shocked but thrilled to see us! She decided since the dates I gave her had me at 7 weeks, she would do a quick ultrasound to verify that. All she saw was a little sac, so she took me to the actual sonographer (ultrasound lady) who took me to a better machine (I'm gonna get 3D ultrasounds later on!!!) and did another ultrasound. That put me at 4weeks, 4days. Basically, since I'm still breastfeeding, and only 6 months postpartum, they think my cycles were still messed up. So my due date is November 1st!!!
Lots of fun!!
The story of Mika's hips
I realised that if you're reading my updates on here about Mika's hips, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, since that is before I started blogging. So here is the story of Mika's hips:
On the day she was born she had a pediatrician come look at her, as is custom. He felt like her left hip was a little loose and ordered an ultrasound of her hips. The next morning she got the ultrasound and sure enough, it looked like hip displacia, so we got a referral to an pediatric orthopedic. Two weeks later, on August 20th, we had her first appointment. They looked over her ultrasound and decided to put her in this lovely thing called a pavlic.
Loads of fun, right? We had to go in once a week to get it adjusted for her growth. We had another ultrasound on her hips September 11th. We were fortunate to have a nice technician who said she would read the ultrasound and get it to our Dr for our 1pm appointment. (It normally takes about 4 days) Unfortunately, there wasn't much improvement, so she had to stay in it.
We had our third hip ultrasound on October 15th, and again they were gracious enough to read and get the results to our orthopedic by 1pm. There was only a 2% increase in the previous month. The orthopedic REALLY didn't like that, and as the next month went on got more and more concerned. She feels how her hips feel in the sockets every week, so she gets an idea of how they may be progressing, and she didn't think they were progressing very well. She told us that if the next ultrasound didn't show much improvement we'd have to probably do a body cast that held the legs in the right position. We started praying REALLY hard and asked everyone else to, too, at that!!!
Our fourth ultrasound was on November 13th. God totally preformed a miracle and her hips and about an 11% increase!!! We were so thrilled!! This meant she got to be out of the brace during the day. Now we'd only had to go down to part-time, meaning 12 hours a day. The orthopedic recommended at night and during naps, but gave us leniency to decide. We decided that since she slept 10 hours a night, we'd just do that. We didn't want to mess with putting her in and out of it during the day.
So for the next month we adjusted the pavlic ourselves and she was only in it at night!! By December 11th, she was out of it for good!!
On the day she was born she had a pediatrician come look at her, as is custom. He felt like her left hip was a little loose and ordered an ultrasound of her hips. The next morning she got the ultrasound and sure enough, it looked like hip displacia, so we got a referral to an pediatric orthopedic. Two weeks later, on August 20th, we had her first appointment. They looked over her ultrasound and decided to put her in this lovely thing called a pavlic.
Loads of fun, right? We had to go in once a week to get it adjusted for her growth. We had another ultrasound on her hips September 11th. We were fortunate to have a nice technician who said she would read the ultrasound and get it to our Dr for our 1pm appointment. (It normally takes about 4 days) Unfortunately, there wasn't much improvement, so she had to stay in it.
We had our third hip ultrasound on October 15th, and again they were gracious enough to read and get the results to our orthopedic by 1pm. There was only a 2% increase in the previous month. The orthopedic REALLY didn't like that, and as the next month went on got more and more concerned. She feels how her hips feel in the sockets every week, so she gets an idea of how they may be progressing, and she didn't think they were progressing very well. She told us that if the next ultrasound didn't show much improvement we'd have to probably do a body cast that held the legs in the right position. We started praying REALLY hard and asked everyone else to, too, at that!!!
Our fourth ultrasound was on November 13th. God totally preformed a miracle and her hips and about an 11% increase!!! We were so thrilled!! This meant she got to be out of the brace during the day. Now we'd only had to go down to part-time, meaning 12 hours a day. The orthopedic recommended at night and during naps, but gave us leniency to decide. We decided that since she slept 10 hours a night, we'd just do that. We didn't want to mess with putting her in and out of it during the day.
So for the next month we adjusted the pavlic ourselves and she was only in it at night!! By December 11th, she was out of it for good!!
Friday, February 22, 2008
A deviation RE Mika's hips....
Greetings from Cali!! We are here visiting for the weekend (just Mika and I). On our way out of town we had an appointment with Mika's pediatric orthopedic. She had a quick x-ray that they developed and showed us. Basically they want "the angles" (not quite sure what exactly they are talking about there) to be below 30% by the time she's a year old. One is at 31% and the other is at 29%!! That is awesome! Dr. Seagle also showed me where her hips bones/socket are becoming bone now and aren't just cartalidge. That is very good! So we go back for another x-ray at 1 year to check to make sure it's still all good. Whew! One less thing to worry about!
Here's a picture for the heck of it! :D
Here's a picture for the heck of it! :D
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Lactation Consultant
We saw a lactation consultant today. We told her what's been going on with Mika and me, and then she watched me nurse Mika. She saw how Mika gets her letdown quickly and gulps it down. After only two min on the boob she said to take her off, that her sucking had changed. She asked if we were oppossed to supplementing and then gave Mika a 2oz bottle. She sucked it down so fast! After a few min of talking to us, she was looking at Mika and said, lets try another. Mika sucked that one down too!! The LC was shocked!! So while I work on my milk supply I'm to supplement her with up to 4oz after bfing. Then I pump to help me while Mika NOW happily plays. I'm starting fenugreek, upping my calorie intake and turning some of water to juices and gatorade (she said I was probably drinking too much water!). She gave us a much more realistic solids schedual for Mika.
And, she doesn't think Mika has silent reflux, or if she does it's really mild. She said the kid is just HUNGRY!!! That's such a mixed blessing, lol. On one hand, I am soooooooo releaved there's probably not anything serious wrong with her, on the other, I FEEL INCREDABLY GUILTY! I was starving my baby! She's going to talk to our pedi and wants to hold off on all the tests we were going to get done starting next mon. I'm glad we hadn't started the previcid yet. So now I'm just waiting on a call from either her or the pedi to confirm we're delaying the tests, and starting this new plan.
And, she doesn't think Mika has silent reflux, or if she does it's really mild. She said the kid is just HUNGRY!!! That's such a mixed blessing, lol. On one hand, I am soooooooo releaved there's probably not anything serious wrong with her, on the other, I FEEL INCREDABLY GUILTY! I was starving my baby! She's going to talk to our pedi and wants to hold off on all the tests we were going to get done starting next mon. I'm glad we hadn't started the previcid yet. So now I'm just waiting on a call from either her or the pedi to confirm we're delaying the tests, and starting this new plan.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Update on Us
Well, the Reglan didn't go over so well with me. Unfortunately I found out it's a depressive, which is not good for someone with a type of ADD that closely mirrors depression and anxiety. So I stopped that and it took a couple of days to get out of my system, but I am doing very well now. I am seeing a lactation consultant Wednesday morning and am starting Feungreek which is an herb that can help with milk production.
As for Mika, we have been pumping her full of solids. Unfortunately this has made her a very cranky li'l girl. She is suddenly not sleeping through the night. She also cries in between bites of food. I called the pediatrition this morning and told her about these recent developments. She is really sure now that it is Silent Reflux. That explains everything, including the gasping. We are keeping the Upper GI test appointment next Monday, and I can't remember exactly what she said, but I'm pretty sure we are also going to have to admit Mika to the hospital overnight and do another test that involves sticking a tube down her throat. I'm going to ask her more questions about that when she calls me Tuesday. She also wanted to put Mika on Prilosec, but the pharmacy didn't have the correct dosage, so they're having to call the pediatrition tomorrow to see what she wants to do. The reason she's wanting to do the medication before the test is that because of her gaspy thing, her biggest worry is that Mika may choke and apirate.
Please pray for us. I know this is not the end of the world or anything, but it's not easy to go through either.
As for Mika, we have been pumping her full of solids. Unfortunately this has made her a very cranky li'l girl. She is suddenly not sleeping through the night. She also cries in between bites of food. I called the pediatrition this morning and told her about these recent developments. She is really sure now that it is Silent Reflux. That explains everything, including the gasping. We are keeping the Upper GI test appointment next Monday, and I can't remember exactly what she said, but I'm pretty sure we are also going to have to admit Mika to the hospital overnight and do another test that involves sticking a tube down her throat. I'm going to ask her more questions about that when she calls me Tuesday. She also wanted to put Mika on Prilosec, but the pharmacy didn't have the correct dosage, so they're having to call the pediatrition tomorrow to see what she wants to do. The reason she's wanting to do the medication before the test is that because of her gaspy thing, her biggest worry is that Mika may choke and apirate.
Please pray for us. I know this is not the end of the world or anything, but it's not easy to go through either.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Mika's 6 month appointment
The concerns I went in with were 1) Her weird gaspy episodes, 2)Her weight (I had mommy intuition that she had either platued or lost some) and 3)I want her on an alternative shot schedual because of some reactions after her last shots.
Now, this is a new dr for us. We were using a FD and while I think she's great, she really wasn't cutting it with Mika. She kept telling us to go to the ER for the gaspy thing and not following up.
As far as the shots went, the new pedi was totally fine with it!! She said a lot of her patients do an alternative schedual, so yeah!!!
She was so incredably great at listening to our concerns, asking good questions, and making a pro active plan. So here's the deal:
Mika has lost weight. She was 11lb13oz at 4m. She was 12lb4oz at 5 m(sick baby visit). Today she was 11lb12.5oz. *sigh* She really doesn't want to come right out and supplement with formula with out doing a month of good milk-supply-upping stuff, which I am sooooo glad for!! That's what I wanted and what she suggrested! So I am now on Reglan 3x/day, and am under orders to up the Mother's Milk Tea and drink TONS of water. (I'm already drinking 3-4 liters a day!) She also wants me to start pumping before feeding, see what I get, nurse Mika to see if she gets some hindmilk, then give her what I pumped. We are also to totally bump up her solids. We just started this week, but had only been doing like 1oz 1-2x/day. We are now to do cereal w/1 vegi or fruit (whole or at least half of the jar) after first and before last feedings of the day, 1 jar each of a fruit and vegi for "lunch", and a snack of puffs or a biscit in the afternoon.
Also, we go in a week from mon to have a chest x-ray and upper GI test to see if what is causing the gaspy thingy. She gave us two possibilites at this point: Silent Reflux (would have to be REALLY silent as Mika is NOT a fussy baby in any sense of the word) or Tracheomalacia, and I quote from the internet "a process characterized by flaccidity of the supporting tracheal cartilage, widening of the posterior membranous wall, and reduced anterior-posterior airway caliber. These factors cause tracheal collapse, especially during times of increased airflow such as coughing, crying, or feeding." We will discuss more what we will do with either of these when we figure out what it is. She said something like if it is Tracheomalacia she may just need to grow out of it. Then we will work on the feeding/weight issues completely separately.
I gotta say, although I am VERY happy we are being proactive in all this, I am so bummed we have to be. This isn't going to be easy.
Thanks if you made it this far.
PS She was 25" (25%) w/a head circ. of 42.5cm(45%!) So other than her weight, she's growing great!
Monday, February 11, 2008
New York!
We just had an awesome weekend! We'd been thinking about visiting Steven, the best man in our wedding, out in NY, NY, where he moved last year. Well, Zarik finally said "Let's do it!" so we did. Thursday night we flew in, dropped our stuff off at Steven's apartment (aka his hugely expesive 1 bedroom condo) in the Upper East Side and went to eat at a local diner.
Friday Zarik and I "slept in" until 9am EST (7am MTN). We did a little clothes shopping at a consignment store and a goodwill (he lives in a really nice neighborhood so there were some great clothes for great deals!), went to 'bucks, then made our way by subway (!!!) to where Steven works - Times Square!!! There was a great little "cafeteria" style cafe called Duke's under the corner of his building where he joined us for lunch. After we left Steven we took the "South Ferry" subway to...South Ferry. ;) We took some pics of the Statue of Liberty, then decided since we were at the end of Broadway that we'd walk up it all the way to times square. (Crazy Us!) We saw the site of the World Trade Center, Union Square, Madison Square Park, a bit of SOHO, the Empire State Building, and a few other things that aren't coming to mind right now. We joined Steven at a BBQ place around the corner, again at Times Square. Then Z and I took the subway back to Steven's place.
Saturday we woke up, went to a great place called Fetch for breakfast, then walked to Central Park (only about 10 blocks or less from Steven's) where they were having a snowboard/ski thing. There was a snowtubing thing they set up, a warming hut with free cider, yougurt and maple candy, a husky rescue group with a red "Sierra" and a perfect "Juneau" (our dogs), and a representive from all the "local" ski hills. It was neat! We walked around Central Park for a while then Steven took us to the really cool underground Apple store, then to Rockafeller center. Then we headed to Grand Central Station which is where we caught the subway back home. We got some chicken from a place called "Pio Pio" and made a salad for dinner. Then about 11 we walked to an amazing frozen yougurt place called Pinkberry. They put fresh fruit and things like granola on what tastes like frozen yougut - complete with the tagny bite yougurt has! It was really good!
Sunday we went to the Met (Metrapolotin Museum) and buzzed through the first floor before our flight.
All in all, it was a really awesome trip! Mika was great and very flexable about napping in her stroller. She did have a tummy issue because daddy gave her too many mashed potates complete with all the butter, milk, etc. I felt so bad for her!
Here are a few pics I took. It was hard pushing the stroller and since we were kinda just buzzing through things to get a lot a good shots. We figured this was a recon trip so next time we'll know what we really want to do and see!
Friday Zarik and I "slept in" until 9am EST (7am MTN). We did a little clothes shopping at a consignment store and a goodwill (he lives in a really nice neighborhood so there were some great clothes for great deals!), went to 'bucks, then made our way by subway (!!!) to where Steven works - Times Square!!! There was a great little "cafeteria" style cafe called Duke's under the corner of his building where he joined us for lunch. After we left Steven we took the "South Ferry" subway to...South Ferry. ;) We took some pics of the Statue of Liberty, then decided since we were at the end of Broadway that we'd walk up it all the way to times square. (Crazy Us!) We saw the site of the World Trade Center, Union Square, Madison Square Park, a bit of SOHO, the Empire State Building, and a few other things that aren't coming to mind right now. We joined Steven at a BBQ place around the corner, again at Times Square. Then Z and I took the subway back to Steven's place.
Saturday we woke up, went to a great place called Fetch for breakfast, then walked to Central Park (only about 10 blocks or less from Steven's) where they were having a snowboard/ski thing. There was a snowtubing thing they set up, a warming hut with free cider, yougurt and maple candy, a husky rescue group with a red "Sierra" and a perfect "Juneau" (our dogs), and a representive from all the "local" ski hills. It was neat! We walked around Central Park for a while then Steven took us to the really cool underground Apple store, then to Rockafeller center. Then we headed to Grand Central Station which is where we caught the subway back home. We got some chicken from a place called "Pio Pio" and made a salad for dinner. Then about 11 we walked to an amazing frozen yougurt place called Pinkberry. They put fresh fruit and things like granola on what tastes like frozen yougut - complete with the tagny bite yougurt has! It was really good!
Sunday we went to the Met (Metrapolotin Museum) and buzzed through the first floor before our flight.
All in all, it was a really awesome trip! Mika was great and very flexable about napping in her stroller. She did have a tummy issue because daddy gave her too many mashed potates complete with all the butter, milk, etc. I felt so bad for her!
Here are a few pics I took. It was hard pushing the stroller and since we were kinda just buzzing through things to get a lot a good shots. We figured this was a recon trip so next time we'll know what we really want to do and see!
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